Today in Research: The Rise in Autism; Middle-Aged Alcoholics

Discovered: new tiniest frogs, climate change solution is more talking, email habits, autism diagnosis, and a drinking age gap.

The rise in autism (diagnosis). The Los Angeles Times
is out with the first of a lengthy multi-part series on autism, and
leads with a provocative claim: "Two decades into the boom, however, the
balance of evidence suggests that it is more a surge in diagnosis than
in disease." The Times doesn't appear to take the disease
lightly, only pointing out evidence from researchers that "some of the
same experts say that in the sweeping effort to find autism, some
children are being mislabeled." The article also cites a 2009 survey of
parents that found 40 percent of children who were previously diagnosed
with the disease "no longer had the diagnosis." Duke University's Dr.
Allen Francis told the newspaper that the increase in autism has more to
do with labeling. "People don't change that fast," he said. "Labels
do." [The Los Angeles Times]

Young vs. Old drinking problems. It's hard to read too much into this small, Scotland-based case study
that questioned "36 people aged 35 to 50 from eight friendship groups."
But, questioned by researchers, the trend was that the middle-aged used
volunteering as a designated driver as a way to ensure that he/she
didn't drink at all that night. Seems sensible. As The Telegraph
reports it, the research had less to do with the ways to cut back on
drinking and more on highlighting the notion that older drinkers have
just as big of a drinking problem as the young, but they do it in less
obvious ways. "When it comes to alcohol consumption, middle aged
drinkers like to think they are 'older and wiser' than they were in
their 20s. ... However, as the discussions progressed, stories of recent
heavy drinking contradicted these claims." [The Telegraph]